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Bullying in the work place can have a negative effect on the self-esteem and productivity of those employees being bullied. Many employers have no-tolerance policies in place and institute immediate dismissal from the job for such practices. Other employers might institute alternative methods that are designed to help refocus a bully employee's behavior in an effort to keep an otherwise efficient employee. Whatever the method, dealing with bullying employees quickly and effectively prevents turmoil in the work place.

1. Call the employee into the office and indicate the observations you've made regarding the employee's aggressive behavior toward other employees. Go over each incident of concern in detail, giving the employee as much information as you can about what you observed and when you observed it.

2. If one exists, refer the employee to the employee handbook's section on employee interaction and bullying in the work place. Ask the employee to read the section. Give the employee the opportunity to tell his side of the incident.

3. Explain alternate ways the employee could have approached the circumstances of a situation that would have been more appropriate to the work environment. Tell the employee that bullying will not be tolerated in the workplace and place the employee on probation for 30 days. Inform the employee that further bullying will result in being fired.

4. Monitor the employee during the probationary period to ensure the bullying behavior does not continue. If it does, follow up with the consequences you discussed with the employee in your initial meeting.

About the Author

Carl Hose is the author of the anthology "Dead Horizon" and the the zombie novella "Dead Rising." His work has appeared in "Cold Storage," "Butcher Knives and Body Counts," "Writer's Journal," and "Lighthouse Digest.". He is editor of the "Dark Light" anthology to benefit Ronald McDonald House Charities.